Personal Fitness Professional - October 2008 - (Page 12)

OM C Club down time — the new revenue generator By Brian Grasso H T U O Y ING AT B O ITY BES Editor’s note: This article is part 2 of a series outlining steps and concepts for those with the desire to tackle the youth obesity epidemic. Find Part 1 on creating youth fitness programs in the September issue; visit our Magazine Archives or read the September Digital Magazine online at www.ﬁt-pro.com. Prime hours of operation are seldom a problem. Members and clients tend to ﬂock before and after work, often creating a log jam on equipment and facility amenities — and although potentially troublesome from an overcrowding perspective, this kind of volume usage is far from a concern for most facility purveyors. What is an issue, however, is that dreaded down time, those times of day that your facility sits virtually empty without so much as a single penny of revenue coming in. It is the clever and industrious use of these times which often separate successful facility ownership and management from business failures. One speciﬁc strategy has been identiﬁed as an important and practical avenue through which to increase your facilities’ revenue during down times of operation: youth ﬁtness initiatives. Youth Fitness Initiatives According to MSNBC, more than one million children and teenagers hired a personal trainer in 2006 — within the United States alone. The youth demographic is widely considered one of the fastest-growing niches in the entire ﬁtness industry and has been dubbed such by media publications both within and outside this market. In 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported that more than four billion dollars are spent every year on personalized training, coaching and sports participation south of the border — and while youth-based ﬁtness and sport training franchises are exploding internationally, very few independent facilities and health clubs are tapping into this considerable new market. The reality remains that with the emergence of youth obesity as a tragic concern and aﬄiction in our society as well as a seemingly endless stream of young athletes looking to gain a competitive 12 Market Wisely In understanding how to eﬀectively use your down time and create revenue dollars where none exist, it is critical to appreciate market trends and industry direction. Like every other industry in the world, the ﬁtness market is constantly changing and in ﬂux, not only in the sense of exercise prescription and programming but in market opinions, needs and an ever-changing climate of expectations from the end user. Independently governed cardiovascular training gave way to paid-for services such as Spinning and group ﬁtness excursions. Casual walks through the park and other self-directed outdoor activities led to the highly proﬁtable market of boot camps. Stretching autonomously in order to work on ﬂexibility and relaxation post strength training produced the need for a class-instructed version of the same — enter the incredibly vast market and mainstream popularity of yoga and Pilates. The point is that smart business owners understand the complexity of the consumer mindset and strive to meet the expectations of their customers, if not “beat them to the punch” in terms of what it is they want from an amenity and programming standpoint. OCTOBER2008 · WWW.FIT-PRO.COM http://www.fit-pro.com http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Personal Fitness Professional - October 2008

Personal Fitness Professional - October 2008 Contents Letter from the Editor, Writers Current Controversies Combating with Obesity Pilates and Yoga for Athletes New! The Balancing Act The Top Prize Building a Base of Special Populations Datebook The Success Image The Anatomy of a Fitness Assessment Branding Training Ruts Product Profile New on the Market

Personal Fitness Professional - October 2008

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